Coming Back From Hong Kong—I

Before the trip, I wasn’t all that relaxed about going to Hong Kong. This was what I called a trip with agenda, and the agenda wasn’t set by me.

First of all, it was unspokenly acknowledged that it would be an engagement coming out of this trip. You may laugh at me for it is Paul who needed to feel more stressed out as he was the one who had to get the ring. But I felt like he only needed to commit 2 months of his salary (at most), and I had to commit my life (at least). What about his life, you may ask. I don’t know, but it always seems to me that guys can always say “You know what? Keep the ring but I’m outta here”. But you know me, girls are always the victims of everything, but you also know I’m right.

More importantly, it seemed like I had to like Hong Kong, because eventually whether I like it or not, I may have to quit my job, give up all I have in US and move to HK and become a loving wife of a man, an obedient daughter-in-law of his parents, and scariest of all, a caring mother of his child, or even in plural form (oh no). Mom even suggested that I might as well get it all over with and get married while I was in Hong Kong. If I really wanted to hurry into a marriage, why she thinks I waited for all these times??

But to my surprise, I was really impressed, at least by its first impression.

Comparing to Taiwan (or Taipei), another East Asian Tigers, Hong Kong is indeed a lot more developed—the city is in better order, more high rises (call me superficial but why do you think the world is all so crazy about building the tallest building just to prove themselves?), cleaner, prettier, and much more shops (I’m sure all the girls out there appreciate this too). Here’s couple of observations I made about HK.

Eating:

The taxi driver on my way home in San Diego asked me how cheap things are in HK (I sometimes wonder if I reveal too much to the taxi drivers, especially those inquisitive ones). See? Even the taxi drivers asked me how cheap things are in HK! That’s why I built my misconception. Not how delicious the food is, how pretty the place is, I guess those are too subjective a thing to ask from the very pragmatic taxi drivers’ point of view. Eating is great in HK, from very high-end food (thanks to Paul’s parents, I had too many of them over the 8 days there) to the very low-end, there’s great varieties there. But even the low-end is probably about the same price level as in US. I find that a bit disappointing coz the average income in HK is definitely lower. (I should be concerned if I don't like cooking and may move to HK, don’t you think?)

It’s interesting how when I’m in US, all Chinese food seems indistinguishably delicious to me. But when I got to HK this time, I noticed how Taiwanese taste really is still quite different from the HKese. It was most obvious when I had dinner with Paul and his Taiwanese friend Joyce. Paul would point to items on the menu that looked either totally unattractive or plain boring. I ended up liking the meal but Paul thought it was done poorly--and he didn't finish all the plates, and that's not a bit like him!

Personally I liked the “Yuan Yang” (it’s a mixture of coffee and black tea with milk and sugar) and had more than 10 cups during the short 8 days. But Alvis gave it a big thumb down, “it’s not coffee and it’s not tea”, he said. And I still don’t quite get the whole idea of broiling the lettuce (along with all other vegetables) with oyster sauce. In Chinese, it is called “raw vegetable” so why broil it? For all the vegetarians out there (since I know so many in my own family), it’s to be noted that Hong Kong isn’t really accommodating for vegetarians. Unlike its popularity in Taiwan, vegetarian food is very rare in restaurants and I hardly saw any vegetarian restaurants on site. Thankfully I live on meat so no points taken away for that.

Clothes:

Maybe I’ve built up too much expectation from all the great things I heard about shopping in HK. But shopping in HK is not so cheap either. Yeah, I got some great things from Paul's mum's stores, but what about those unlucky ones without the connection? I saw several LV, Gucci, and all the name brands you can imagined; Salvatore Ferregamo even has 3 stores in one mall (and who told me rent in HK ain’t that cheap?). I’m a bit curious how, or WHO can afford all those stuff. They told me it’s the travelers from Mainland who do most of the shopping. Then I can’t explain the young folks who apparently looks like locals lining outside LV and Gucci (every time I walked by these two stores, there were people lining outside waiting to have the doorman call them in, how crazy is that?!). I’m quite a label victim myself but I think it’s sad if teenagers, be rich or not, all lined outside name brand stores waiting to be beckoned by the doorman. It’s just bad to learn how easy to spend before learning how hard to earn, eh? Overall, I am impressed with the variety but I may feel more at ease to shop in US. People simply couldn't care less on what they wear in US.

Several notes about HK girls style: overall you can see they all care about their looks--a lot, I saw too many girls meticulously touching their hair while walking—have to say it’s such a big turn off to me. Maybe it’s a tweenager thing I don’t know. The jeans tucked into boots are the number one trend in HK right now. OK, when Kate Moss did it she was phenomenal, when Sienna Miller does it she looks uber chic, but when half the girls in HK do it (I’m sure same in Japan and the whole Asia right now), some even pulled the style with their not-so-chic jeans and bit-too-old boots, it’s time for us to realize we all spend too much time reading the same magazines. One note about HK boys (can’t say too much coz I just got engaged), they dress a lot nicer than Taiwanese boys and a lot fancier than US boys. Many of them in suits and a lot less in very weird clothes. But I thought half the time I was there it was weekend or public holidays, so why are they wearing suits on a public holiday? You got me there!

I will write about the living and commuting in my next blog, stay tuned.